Opening kickoff spelled doom for CCU. How rest of game played out was more dramatic

Coastal Carolina was able to quickly earn its first Football Bowl Subdivision victory this season with a win over Massachusetts in the season opener.

The team’s inaugural victory in the Sun Belt Conference is proving to be a more difficult task.

The Chanticleers (1-4) fell to 0-2 in their new conference with a 27-21 loss to Georgia State on Saturday night at Brooks Stadium, and the losses are beginning to pile up.

Coastal has lost four consecutive games for just the second time in the 15-year history of the football program, matching the school’s longest losing streak set in head coach Joe Moglia’s first season in 2012.

The Chants won their next six games that season.

That won’t be expected this season with the team’s move to FBS and Sun Belt. The jump in competition was expected to be challenging, and it has been.

“We’re asking our team to do something and believe that good results are coming … and we’re hitting some adversity. It’s pushing back right now,” CCU interim head coach Jamey Chadwell said. “We’ve got a hurting team in the locker room, but we’re heading in the direction I think we need to as far as the type of attitude and effort we play with. We have to continue to correct the little mistakes that are keeping us from winning football games.”

The Chants have been competitive against their FBS foes, defeating UMass and falling to Alabama-Birmingham and Sun Belt foes Louisiana-Monroe and Georgia State by eight points or less.

“That tells you that you’re there and close to being able to make some plays but we’re not able to do it when it matters, that’s the frustrating thing,” Chadwell said.

Coastal trailed Saturday from the opening kickoff, which was returned 90 yards for a touchdown by Glenn Smith.

The Chants fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter and rallied to twice pull within a touchdown on a couple Tyler Keane 5-yard touchdown passes in the fourth quarter – the second with 1:50 to play – but the comeback fell short when Georgia State recovered an onside kick and earned a first down to run out the clock.

“You’d wish we wouldn’t wait until the last [eight] minutes when there’s some urgency going on and be able to make some plays early in the game,” Chadwell said. “It shows we’ll continue to fight and with some of these teams we’re not that far off in certain things. That gives you some hope and this team needs some hope right now.”

Keane completed 18 or 26 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Three receivers had at least four catches, three had at least 55 yards and three scored touchdowns. Omar Black set the pace with five receptions for 75 yards and a score.

Keane threw for 329 yards last week against UL-Monroe after the Chants had gone six games without throwing for more than 140 yards.

“Our passing game has opened up a little bit more for us,” Keane said. “We’ve had a little bit more time to throw the ball, our offensive line is doing a good job of pass protecting, and whenever we’re able to find our receivers, they’re playmakers and make plays. If we get the ball in their hands they can score.”

The Chants made an effort to get Malcolm Williams the ball off his school-record 266-yard receiving effort last week, even lining him up in the backfield to receive a pitch from Keane for a 10-yard run in the second quarter. Williams had five receptions for 55 yards and two rushes for 8.

Coastal rushed for 127 yards on 32 carries, with no back gaining more than 42 yards. “We’re struggling to run it when we need to,” Chadwell said. “The last couple of weeks we have not been able to run it the way we need to in certain situations.”

The Chants stuffed Georgia State’s rushing attack, limiting it to 91 yards on 40 carries for a 2.3 average per rush, but receivers were routinely open over the middle of the field as Panthers quarterback Conner Manning was 18 of 30 for 273 yards. Eight of his completions were for more than 15 yards.

Georgia State converted eight of 14 third downs, largely through the air, while Coastal was four of 11 on third down.

“For the most part I think all year long … we’ve done pretty well stopping people with the run,” Chadwell said. “Our issue is we’ve got to do a better job on third down. We get them in third down situations third and medium and third and long and we need to get them off the field. I thought that was a big difference in the game.”

On the opening kickoff, Smith headed right initially and came to a near stop as things were bottled up around the 20-yard line, then headed left where he had open field and broke an attempted tackle on the sideline by kicker Masamitsu Ishibashi around the CCU 20 to reach the end zone.

“Our special teams was a disappointment today,” Chadwell said. “I think that was the big difference in the game overall. That hurt us, obviously the opening kickoff.”

Coastal drove 75 yards in 12 plays in on its first possession in response to the return, and had a first-and-goal at the GSU 6. But the Chants were stuffed on three running plays and Evan Rabon missed a 21-yard field goal.

Georgia State then drove 80 yards in 11 plays to take a 14-0 lead on a 7-yard end around catch by Penny Hart, who took a forward pitch from quarterback Conner Manning and sprinted to the left pylon.

The Chants’ first scoring drive in the second quarter was 85 yards and 11 plays, and Black got his first career touchdown reception with a 33-yard catch on a deep cross.

A pair of 15-yard personal foul penalties on the Chants for facemasks contributed to a Panthers drive late in the second quarter that culminated in a Kyler Neal 3-yard touchdown run. Manning converted a third-and-10 at the 14 with an 11-yard scramble to set up the score.

Coastal survived a strange series of nine consecutive plays without a score after Georgia State crossed the Chants’ 10-yard line in the third quarter. The series included one penalty on Coastal and two on Georgia State, and the Chants forced a 25-yard field goal attempt that was missed by Brandon Wright after forcing an incompletion on third down.

“That was probably the longest drive of my life inside the red zone. I’m not going to lie to you,” said linebacker Shane Johnson, who had a team-high 12 tackles in his return from an ankle injury. “… The defense stood up and took a stand, had a back-against-the-wall mentality.”

CCU forced a punt with less than 10 minutes remaining and Keane led a quick four-play, 48-yard touchdown drive with a 22-yard pass to Chris Jones, 16-yard scramble to the GSU 5 and 5-yard TD pass over the middle to Ky’Jon Tyler to cut the deficit to seven points.

But Manning found tight end Ari Werts uncovered down the right sideline for a 52-yard gain on GSU’s next possession, leading to a Demarcus Kirk 4-yard touchdown run that gave the Panthers a 27-14 lead with 3 minutes remaining.

Keane passes of 25 yards to Williams and 45 yards to Jones, who played for the first time in three games after suffering a concussion in CCU’s second game, set up his 5-yard TD pass to redshirt freshman Larry Collins Jr. with 1:50 to play that pulled CCU within six points.

Georgia State recovered an onside kick, though CCU had all three of its timeouts remaining. The conversion of a third-and-3 near the Coastal 40 on a run up the middle sealed Georgia State’s win.

“We’re just not getting those breaks, but you’ve got to make those breaks, and that’s doing little things every day to make those, and we’re not there yet,” Chadwell said.

This story was originally published October 7, 2017 at 10:33 PM with the headline "Opening kickoff spelled doom for CCU. How rest of game played out was more dramatic."